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WASHINGTON- The United States has a moral obligation to protect unaccompanied children and families from persecution in Central America, said Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, October 21. Bishop Seitz is an advisor to the USCCB Committee on Migration and a member of the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC).The humanitarian outflow, driven by organized crime in the northern triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, continues, with nearly 40,000 unaccompanied children and an equal number of mothers with children having arrived in the United States in Fiscal Year 2015."If we do not respond justly and humanely to this challenge in our own backyard, then we will relinquish our moral leadership and moral influence globally," Bishop Seitz said.Bishop Seitz pointed to the human consequences of U.S. policies which are designed to deter migration from the region, i...
WASHINGTON- The United States has a moral obligation to protect unaccompanied children and families from persecution in Central America, said Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, October 21. Bishop Seitz is an advisor to the USCCB Committee on Migration and a member of the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC).
The humanitarian outflow, driven by organized crime in the northern triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, continues, with nearly 40,000 unaccompanied children and an equal number of mothers with children having arrived in the United States in Fiscal Year 2015.
"If we do not respond justly and humanely to this challenge in our own backyard, then we will relinquish our moral leadership and moral influence globally," Bishop Seitz said.
Bishop Seitz pointed to the human consequences of U.S. policies which are designed to deter migration from the region, including U.S. support for Mexican interdiction efforts which are intercepting children and families in Mexico and sending them back to danger, in violation of international law.
Bishop Seitz recommended an end to these interdictions and the introduction of a regional system which would screen children and families for asylum in Mexico and other parts of the region. He also called for Congress to approve and increase a $1 billion aid package proposed by the Administration.
"If we export enforcement," Bishop Seitz said, "we also must export protection."
Bishop Seitz recalled the words of Pope Francis before Congress in September, when he invoked the golden rule in guiding our nation's actions toward those seeking safety in our land.
Quoting the Holy Father, Bishop Seitz repeated to the committee, "'The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us.'"
"Mr. Chairman, I pray that time, and history, will conclude that we honored this rule in meeting this humanitarian challenge," Bishop Seitz concluded.
Bishop Seitz' testimony can be found at http://www.usccb.org//about/migration-policy/congressional-testimony/upload/seitz-ongoing-migration.pdf
Keywords: Bishop Mark J. Seitz, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Congress, Senate, Committee on Migration, migration, unaccompanied children, violence, Pope Francis
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(Vatican Radio) The newest edition of the Star Wars franchise has broken box office records, and made over $517 million after its first weekend of release. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the first movie in the series since Disney bought the franchise, and the first made without the oversight of George Lucas.Although getting mostly positive reviews, especially when compared to the much-maligned prequels, not every outlet has been impressed with new film: The Vatican newspaper - L'Osservatore Romano - called it "confused and hazy."The review said new director J.J. Abrams' direction has only one merit: "To show, by contrast, how the direction of the previous films was elegant, balanced and, above all, appropriate."It also said the film is not a proper sequel, but more of reboot. "Not a classy reboot however, like Nolan's Batman, but a twisted update which fits today's tastes and a public more accustomed to sitting in front of a computer ...
(Vatican Radio) The newest edition of the Star Wars franchise has broken box office records, and made over $517 million after its first weekend of release. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the first movie in the series since Disney bought the franchise, and the first made without the oversight of George Lucas.
Although getting mostly positive reviews, especially when compared to the much-maligned prequels, not every outlet has been impressed with new film: The Vatican newspaper - L'Osservatore Romano - called it "confused and hazy."
The review said new director J.J. Abrams' direction has only one merit: "To show, by contrast, how the direction of the previous films was elegant, balanced and, above all, appropriate."
It also said the film is not a proper sequel, but more of reboot. "Not a classy reboot however, like Nolan's Batman, but a twisted update which fits today's tastes and a public more accustomed to sitting in front of a computer than in a cinema," the review said, adding the film seems to derive its influence from the "sloppiest current action films derived from the world of videogames."
The review also complains about an abuse of close-ups, and even faults the "much-publicized" return to in-camera effects, saying they are "often anonymous and lacking in dramatic value."
The newspaper went on to say Star Wars: The Force Awakens "fails most spectacularly" in its representation of evil.
“Darth Vader and above all the Emperor Palpatine were two of the most effective villains in [the sci-fi] genre of American cinema.”
The new film's villain, the Darth Vader-inspired Kylo Ren, is called "insipid;" while Supreme Leader Snoke - the Emperor Palpatine-like character, is called "the most serious defect of the film," with his representation described as "awkward and tacky."
The review states the film "overdoes the darkness," making it lose its effect.
(Vatican Radio) The newest edition of the Star Wars franchise has broken box office records, and made over $517 million after its first weekend of release.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the first movie in the series since Disney bought the franchise, and the first made without the oversight of George Lucas.
Although getting mostly positive reviews, especially when compared to the much-maligned prequels, not every outlet has been impressed with new film: The Vatican newspaper - L'Osservatore Romano - called it "confused and hazy."
The review said new director J.J. Abrams' direction has only one merit: "To show, by contrast, how the direction of the previous films was elegant, balanced and, above all, appropriate."
It also said the film is not a proper sequel, but more of reboot. "Not a classy reboot however, like Nolan's Batman, but a twisted update which fits today's tastes and a public more accustomed to sitting in front of a computer than in a cinema," the review said, adding the film seems to derive its influence from the "sloppiest current action films derived from the world of videogames."
The review also complains about an abuse of close-ups, and even faults the "much-publicized" return to in-camera effects, saying they are "often anonymous and lacking in dramatic value."
The newspaper went on to say Star Wars: The Force Awakens "fails most spectacularly" in its representation of evil.
“Darth Vader and above all the Emperor Palpatine were two of the most effective villains in [the sci-fi] genre of American cinema.”
The new film's villain, the Darth Vader-inspired Kylo Ren, is called "insipid;" while Supreme Leader Snoke - the Emperor Palpatine-like character, is called "the most serious defect of the film," with his representation described as "awkward and tacky."
The review states the film "overdoes the darkness," making it lose its effect.
Washington D.C., Dec 21, 2015 / 12:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The numbers of people without a religious affiliation are increasing in some countries. But some demographers project that the global population will be more religious, not less, for one simple reason: religious believers tend to have more babies.The growth in the religiously affiliated population is “largely about having relatively high fertility rates,” Conrad Hackett, a demographer at the Pew Research Center, told CNA Dec. 15.“There is such rapid growth expected in parts of the world that currently really have little to no unaffiliated presence, Africa in particular. India is another place where a lot of population growth is expected,” he said.The religiously unaffiliated population is growing in some countries such as the U.S., where they have been nicknamed the “nones.” However, the largest populations of the unaffiliated are in Japan and other countries with aging populations that ar...
Washington D.C., Dec 21, 2015 / 12:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The numbers of people without a religious affiliation are increasing in some countries. But some demographers project that the global population will be more religious, not less, for one simple reason: religious believers tend to have more babies.
The growth in the religiously affiliated population is “largely about having relatively high fertility rates,” Conrad Hackett, a demographer at the Pew Research Center, told CNA Dec. 15.
“There is such rapid growth expected in parts of the world that currently really have little to no unaffiliated presence, Africa in particular. India is another place where a lot of population growth is expected,” he said.
The religiously unaffiliated population is growing in some countries such as the U.S., where they have been nicknamed the “nones.” However, the largest populations of the unaffiliated are in Japan and other countries with aging populations that are not replacing themselves.
“Therefore the global story is that the unaffiliated are expected to decrease as a share of the world's overall population,” Hackett said.
Hackett is one of the authors of the study, “The future size of religiously affiliated and unaffiliated populations,” published April 2 in the journal “Demographic Research.” Researchers' projections took into account factors such as a population's religious composition, differences in fertility rates, age structure, and patterns in changing to and from religious belief.
The researchers projected that in the year 2050 the religiously unaffiliated will make up 13.2 percent of the world population, a decline from 16.4 percent in 2010.
“The religiously unaffiliated are projected to decline as a share of the world's population in the decades ahead because their net growth through religious switching will be more than offset by higher childbearing among the younger affiliated population,” the paper said.
Religiously unaffiliated have both low fertility and an old age structure. While this population segment is projected to grow in North America and Europe, it will decline in the populous Asia-Pacific region.
The researchers projected that in the year 2050 the religiously unaffiliated will make up 13.2 percent of the world population, a decline from 16.4 percent in 2010. They noted that the median age of women with a religious affiliation is six years younger than that of unaffiliated women. The 2010-2015 total fertility rate for those with a religious affiliation is 2.59 children per woman, compared with 1.65 children per woman without a religious affiliation.
Hackett told CNA that in the West younger women, who are more likely to have children, are also more likely to be unaffiliated. At the same time they are likely to have fewer children than women who affiliate with a religion.
The religiously unaffiliated percentage of a population can keep pace with the religious in certain countries also because they benefit from switching between religious affiliation and non-affiliation. In countries like France and the U.S., their numbers benefit because people have been changing their self-identification from Christian to non-religious.
Hackett and his researcher colleagues also published a related report for the Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections 2010-2050.”
He said one surprising finding of the report, which received significant media coverage earlier this year, was “the degree to which Muslims are expected to outpace the world’s overall population growth.”
The researchers projected Muslims to grow from 23.2 percent of the population in 2010 to 29.7 percent in 2050, an estimated increase in population size of 73 percent. By comparison, the Christian percentage of the world population is projected to remain stable at 31.4 percent, with an estimated increase of 35 percent in population size.
Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com.
IMAGE: CNS photo/DisneyBy Junno Arocho EstevesVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"broke box office records and restored a new hope in the franchise to thedelight of fans worldwide with a few exceptions, including the Vatican'snewspaper. Emilio Ranzato, author and frequent movie critic for L'OsservatoreRomano, wrote Dec. 18 that the first installment of the sequel trilogy was "confusingand vague," but he reserved his harshest criticism for the film's newvillains. In "The Force Awakens," Ranzato wrote, "thecounterpart of Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, wears a mask merely to emulate hispredecessor, while the character who needs to substitute Emperor Palpatine asthe incarnation of supreme evil represents the most serious defect of the film."Calling the original trilogy's villains "the twomost-efficient villains" in American science fiction cinema, Ranzato wrotethat in comparison, Kylo Ren and his dark side mentor, Supreme Leader Snoke,failed "most spectacularly" in representing...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Disney
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" broke box office records and restored a new hope in the franchise to the delight of fans worldwide with a few exceptions, including the Vatican's newspaper.
Emilio Ranzato, author and frequent movie critic for L'Osservatore Romano, wrote Dec. 18 that the first installment of the sequel trilogy was "confusing and vague," but he reserved his harshest criticism for the film's new villains.
In "The Force Awakens," Ranzato wrote, "the counterpart of Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, wears a mask merely to emulate his predecessor, while the character who needs to substitute Emperor Palpatine as the incarnation of supreme evil represents the most serious defect of the film."
Calling the original trilogy's villains "the two most-efficient villains" in American science fiction cinema, Ranzato wrote that in comparison, Kylo Ren and his dark side mentor, Supreme Leader Snoke, failed "most spectacularly" in representing evil.
The use of computer-generated imagery in creating Snoke's appearance, he added, "is the clumsiest and tackiest result you can obtain from computer graphics."
Ranzato also criticized certain elements of the movie that were similar to George Lucas' original trilogy, going so far as to referring "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" as more of a reboot than a sequel.
"Not a classy reboot however, like (Christopher) Nolan's 'Batman,' but an update twisted to suit today's tastes and a public more accustomed to sitting in front of a computer than in a cinema," he wrote.
Although the movie pulled in more than $500 million at the box office, with countless fans praising director J.J. Abrams for returning the franchise to its roots after the lukewarm reception of the prequel trilogy, Ranzato believed otherwise.
Abrams' direction, he wrote, "is in fact modeled on the sloppiest current action films derived from the world of video games. The only merit of J.J. Abrams' film is to show, by contrast, how the direction of the previous films was elegant, balanced and above all appropriate."
The Vatican critic's review might have some die-hard Star Wars fans quoting Darth Vader's words when facing criticism: "I find your lack of faith disturbing."
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Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.
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